Hearn Protests Re-Certification of Businesses Paying Every Two Weeks

Rep. Joy Hearn (D-Dist. 66, Barrington, East Providence) has expressed concern over a proposal requiring companies to re-certify with the state every two years to pay workers every two weeks.

Hearn, who championed the bill, which passed in June, one of 18 in the House leadership’s economic development bill package, said requiring re-certification is unnecessary, and flies in the face of the bill's intent, streamlining business regulation. 

Under the new law, businesses can move to paying workers every two weeks on Jan. 1. 

“I am confident that the very comprehensive certification process envisioned in the legislation makes a recertification process unnecessary,” wrote Hearn in a Thursday letter to  RI Department of Labor and Training Director Charles Fogarty. 

“Any recertification process is cumbersome to the employer as well as to the agency overseeing it.  Eliminating the recertification provision provides relief for both. The legislation’s intent was to ease Rhode Island’s often burdensome regulatory environment.  I strongly urge DLT to proceed with the legislation’s intent and eliminate the need for companies to re-certify.”

Most states, she wrote, allow pay every two weeks, which required many multi-state businesses with a Rhode Island presence to establish a separate payroll system. Representative Hearn says she worries any additional hurdles attached to this law after the fact could quash the state’s original efforts to ease the burden on Rhode Island businesses. 

There will be a public hearing on the proposal today, Dec. 9, at 2 p.m. at the state DLT headquarters, 1511 Pontiac Ave., Cranston.